ArticleJournal of the Royal Society, Interface2021
Cryptochrome magnetoreception: four tryptophans could be better than three.
Article in Journal of the Royal Society, Interface, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 31 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
31 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 74 citations in OpenAlex.
- Directionality range in Emlen funnels.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2026Pooled it
- Genetic analysis of cryptochrome in insect magnetosensitivity.Frontiers in physiology · 2022Pooled it
- Protein-Solvent Interface Controls Proton-Coupled Reactivity in Cryptochrome 4a.Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2026Article
- A Charge-Reversal Point Mutation Completely Depletes Flavin Chromophore from European Robin Cryptochrome 4a Protein.The journal of physical chemistry letters · 2026Article
- Protein and Solvent Reorganization Drives Radical Pair Stability in Avian Cryptochrome 4a.Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2025Article
- Weak Radiofrequency Field Effects on Biological Systems Mediated through the Radical Pair Mechanism.Chemical reviews · 2025Review
- Cryptochrome 4b protein is probably irrelevant for radical pair-based magnetoreception in the European robin.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2025Article
- Fast-Track Signaling: A Non-Adiabatic Photoactivation Pathway in Plant Cryptochromes.ACS central science · 2025Article
- Spectroscopic Characterization of Radical Pair Photochemistry in Nonmigratory Avian Cryptochromes: Magnetic Field Effects inJournal of the American Chemical Society · 2025Article
- Magnetosensitivity of Model Flavin-Tryptophan Radical Pairs in a Dynamic Protein Environment.The journal of physical chemistry. B · 2025Article
- European Robin Cryptochrome-4a Associates with Lipid Bilayers in an Ordered Manner, Fulfilling a Molecular-Level Condition for Magnetoreception.ACS chemical biology · 2025Article
- Little strokes fell big oaks: The use of weak magnetic fields and reactive oxygen species to fight cancer.Redox biology · 2025Review
- Cryptochrome magnetoreception: Time course of photoactivation from non-equilibrium coarse-grained molecular dynamics.Computational and structural biotechnology journal · 2024Article
- Comparison of retinol binding protein 1 with cone specific G-protein as putative effector molecules in cryptochrome signalling.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Understanding the Red Shift in the Absorption Spectrum of the FAD Cofactor in ClCry4 Protein.The journal of physical chemistry. B · 2024Article
- Magnetic orientation in juvenile Atlantic herring (Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2024Article
- Structural Rearrangements of Pigeon Cryptochrome 4 Undergoing a Complete Redox Cycle.The journal of physical chemistry. B · 2024Article
- Activation of Cryptochrome 4 from Atlantic Herring.Biology · 2024Article
- What Is life? Rethinking Biology in Light of Fundamental Parameters.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Insect magnetoreception: a Cry for mechanistic insights.Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The biophysical mechanism of the magnetic compass sensor in migratory songbirds is thought to involve photo-induced radical pairs formed in cryptochrome (Cry) flavoproteins located in photoreceptor cells in the eyes. In Cry4a-the most likely of the six known avian Crys to have a magnetic sensing function-four radical pair states are formed sequentially by the stepwise transfer of an electron along a chain of four tryptophan residues to the photo-excited flavin. In purified Cry4a from the migratory European robin, the third of these flavin-tryptophan radical pairs is more magnetically sensitive than the fourth, consistent with the smaller separation of the radicals in the former. Here, we explore the idea that these two radical pair states of Cry4a could exist in rapid dynamic equilibrium such that the key magnetic and kinetic properties are weighted averages. Spin dynamics simulations suggest that the third radical pair is largely responsible for magnetic sensing while the fourth may be better placed to initiate magnetic signalling particularly if the terminal tryptophan radical can be reduced by a nearby tyrosine. Such an arrangement could have allowed independent optimization of the essential sensing and signalling functions of the protein. It might also rationalize why avian Cry4a has four tryptophans while Crys from plants have only three.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.